Reaction to: Tales of a Crossover
by Zerodone
Summary: Story request by Nerf585. Any complaints are to be directed to him. The crew of the canon Berseria and Zestiria games will react to my fanfiction Tales of a Crossover. With special guest: Princess Alisha. (Please mind the first chapter is just the set-up)
1. Chapter 1

"Ngh…" Velvet didn't know what had hit her, but it seemed like it had been a really strong blow if it managed to knock her out. Not the first time that happened and probably not the last. Opening her eyes, Velvet found herself looking at the blue sky with the occasional cloud passing by. Wondering where the rest of her ragtag group was, she got up and ended up finding no one. Curious, but also slightly worried she looked around, only to notice one particular thing. This definitely wasn't the place she had been at when she lost consciousness.

Judging from the size of the room she was sitting in, she in a foyer for some kind of mansion. The foyer was huge, if pretty empty. There was a green carpet spread in the middle of the room, but that was about all of the decoration the room had. A huge staircase led towards the next floor. Even from down where she was, Velvet could see multiple doors leading somewhere. On her floor there were four doors to the left and right of her, no doubt leading further into the mansion. In front of her, sideways to the stairs were two more doors and behind her was the exit.

("What is this place? Where is everyone?") the so-called Lord of Calamity wondered to herself, putting a hand under her chin. ("Is some kind of arte responsible for this? Whatever the case, I should be careful exploring this place. Who knows who or what force brought us here? And for what purpose?")

With that being established, Velvet chose a random door to her right, it being the second to the left and entered the next room. This one turned out to be a huge dining hall. Multiple chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling, enlightening the room, though it was strange. There were no candles placed on the chandeliers themselves. Instead, multiple glass tubes were attached to them, the light coming out of those things. Were the candles placed inside? Before she could further contemplate this, Velvet could hear a door opening on the other end of the room. Out of it came a little, blonde girl, carrying an umbrella on her shoulder. She looked familiar to Velvet, but she couldn't place the girl anywhere. The girl, of course, noticed Velvet on the other end of the room and glared at the hellion.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, sounding somehow bored.

"I could ask you the same thing," Velvet replied, crossing her arms. "Are you the one who brought me here?"

"You woke up at this place too?" the girl asked rhetorically, but Velvet nodded anyways.

"Huh, what a coincidence," the blonde spoke, twirling her umbrella with her fingers. "You wouldn't happen to come across some other people?"

"I just woke up here myself," Velvet explained. "And I'm missing a few friends too. They most likely were brought here as well."

The blonde nodded. "Makes sense. By the way, any reason you can see a Seraphim like me?"

"Seraphim?" Velvet echoed, confused at the term.

XXX

In another part of the mansion, Eizen was having a conversation with a fellow Malak, who called himself Dezel.

"And that's when I woke up here," Mikleo finished. "The white light just swallowed us all up. It came out of nowhere, literally. We were just walking down a path and then…" The water Malak made a gesture with his arms.

"I see," Eizen nodded. "I can't really contribute much. Me and my group, we were caught up in battle, when it happened. At first, I thought it was an arte that was supposed to blind your opponents. But then I found myself in this room." Eizen gestured with his arm. Indeed, the two Malakhim had found themselves inside a bar of some kind, but not an open one. Rather it looked like this was a private bar, given the soft couches that had been placed around the room, along with the small tables. A chimney could be found at one end of the room, but it wasn't lit.

"The others have to be around here as well."

"Agreed." Mikleo nodded. "We will probably also find whoever is responsible for our appearance here."

"Yeah," Eizen agreed. "We should be careful. Who knows what else they're capable of?"

With that in mind, the two Malaks started exploring the place.

XXX

"What could the function of this device be?" Eleanor was talking more to herself, than her newfound companion. Alisha too was wondering what the black box in front of them could possibly be for.

"There is a red light coming out of it." Alisha pointed towards the bottom part of the box, where indeed a red light could be seen shining. It was very tiny and by no means was enough to enlighten the room. Not that that was needed at the moment, since it was still bright outside, allowing enough light to enter the room through the window.

"Anyways, as peculiar as this device is, we should focus our attempts in finding out who brought us here and why."

"Agreed." Alisha nodded. "Maybe more people have been brought here."

"It's certainly possible," Eleanor conceded. "And I wonder if my traveling companions have been brought here as well."

The two spear wielding women exited the room and walked back into the hallway where they had met before.

"There are so many rooms here" Eleanor pointed at all the doors lined up in the hallway "it will take too long to explore them all."

"But how do we know if no one is inside one of them?" Alisha asked in return, sounding worried. "Maybe we can at least open each door and see if someone is inside. We don't need to inspect them in great detail."

"A good idea. Let's do it at once. From the looks of things we have quite a bit of work to do."

XXX

"Hmm…" Rose frowned, as she and her companion Dezel entered yet another empty room. Well, it wasn't completely empty. There were a couple of cupboards, a bed, a nightstand, a shelf… but that was about it.

"What is it?" Dezel asked. "Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure if "wrong" is the right word." Rose smiled at her own accidental word pun. "It's just… this is the tenth room we're inspecting. And we still haven't found anything interesting," she complained.

"You can't expect to find treasure everywhere you go."

"That's not what I meant," Rose waved off. "What I mean is, we're obviously inside some kind of mansion. This thing is at least three stories tall, so whoever owns it must be loaded. And so far every loaded person I have met just loves to throw their money around by filling their homes with all kinds of expensive stuff. Yet all we have found is… this." Rose gestured with her hands towards the bed.

"Ah, I see. Can't really speak from experience, but I can see what you mean." Funny given that Dezel was actually blind. "Still, is it really important right now to know why this place isn't full of treasure at the moment?"

"I guess you're right," Rose conceded, although this was still bothering her. "I wonder where the rest of the gang is."

"Probably somewhere in this building. But given how large this place appears to be, it might take a while to find them all."

"Well, since there's nothing interesting around, we might as well go look for them. Who knows, maybe they had more luck than us?"

XXX

"This is definitely not my lucky day," Sorey gritted his teeth, as he blocked another strike from the hellion in front of him. The shepherd faked an attack and then jumped backward in order to give himself some space. The hellion in front of him grinned viciously, his red eye shining through the dark hair that covered it.

"Don't tell me you're giving up already?" the hellion taunted the human.

"I'm only getting started!" Sorey shouted back, readying his sword.

"Is that so?" the hellion replied, readying his own two short blades. "I'll be honest with you kid. So far, I'm not impressed. You've got talent, I give you that. But talent isn't enough to beat a demon like me."

"Well, maybe this will impress you!" With a battle cry, Sorey charged at the hellion. Said hellion however easily blocked the attack with one blade and swung the other down for a counterattack. Months of constant battling had given Sorey enough experience to see such a move coming. He twisted his blade in a way that it intercepted with the second blade, but was still locked with the first one.

"Not bad," the Hellion commented. "But you have forgotten something important."

"And that would be?" Sorey asked. The hellion's grin became even more vicious.

"Demons are stronger than humans." The hellion pushed Sorey backward and immediately followed it up with a piercing attack. To the hellion's surprise, however, the human managed to block the attack once again, without any visible effort.

"I guess it's a good thing then, that I'm no ordinary human!" Sorey exclaimed and pushed the Hellion backward. Said Hellion was taken off guard for a second, but Sorey forgot to capitalize on the moment of weakness. Luckily for him, someone else didn't. Before he could fully recover, a fireball hit the Hellion straight into the chest. With a scream of pain, the Hellion flew backward and landed on his back.

"Sorey!" an all too familiar voice exclaimed.

"Lailah!" Sorey shouted happily, as he saw one of his companions quickly running up to him.

"Are you alright?" the Seraphim asked worried, to which the Shepherd gave her a reassuring nod. "Yeah, now that you're here."

"Hahahaha!" the Hellion laughed, getting the attention of the two others in room. They saw that the Hellion had gotten up again and was pointing his weapons at them.

"So, you're an exorcist! Things just got interesting!"

XXX

Magilou frowned, looking down at the human she had knocked out earlier. Laphicet was tending to his more critical wounds. No need to kill him just yet, as he was probably responsible for their current predicament. And it is oh so hard to interrogate the dead.

The self-proclaimed witch allowed her gaze to wander around the room they were in. It kind of reminded her of the place where the Prince's pet had been held in, only smaller and a little bit more furnished out. There was a blackboard for example on one end of the room with a complexity of spells written on it. A shelve with a variety of books had been set up on the other end. There was also the study desk with a variety of papers and some kind of square thing on it. There was also this other thing in front of the square thing, which had every letter of the alphabet on it, along with numbers and a variety of letter combination. Beneath the desk was also something big placed, though Magilou had no idea what it was.

"That's enough, Laphicet," Magilou stated without even looking at the progress. "We don't need him back at full strength, just enough for him to give us reasonable answers," she explained.

"Uh… okay. If you say so."

The witch could hear that the Malak wasn't too happy with the decision she made, but it was the smartest one given the circumstances. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the human was somehow responsible for their unwanted teleportation. Both Laphicet and Magilou could feel the residue magic of the art that had been used to summon them here. And it was a lot. Luckily Magilou had reacted quickly and overwhelmed the human before he could do whatever he had planned with them. Given how much strength it must have taken him just to summon those two here, it probably was something bad. Best to leave him in a weak condition for now.

"What do we do now?" Laphicet asked.

"We wait until he wakes up," Magilou explained. "Then we'll thoroughly question him about his intentions. And if his answers proof to be unsatisfying" the witch grinned in a way that it sent shivers down Laphicet's spine "then we'll just have to… "convince" him to tell us everything we want to know."

"Uh… convince him?"

Before Magilou could scare Laphicet any more, a cry from a certain Normin got her attention.

"Miss Magilou!" Bienfu cried, flying all the way down the stairs. He was holding a box-like thing in his tiny hands. It seemed like he had found something interesting in his search of the others.

"You have to take a look at this!" he screamed in his serious tone.

Raising an eyebrow at the nervousness of her slave, *ahem*, employee, Magilou took the box in her hands and looked at the front. Her eyes widened when she saw Velvets face beautifully painted on it. Her demon claw could also be seen. Above the picture in white letters with a blue background was written: PS4. At the bottom of the picture in a beautiful red and white fashion was written: Tales of Berseria.

("Things just got a lot more interesting.")


	2. Chapter 2

WARNING! SOME OF THIS MAY BE CRINGE WORTHY TO READ, DUE TO THIS IDIOT YOU CALL AN AUTHOR WANTING TO GET THE STORY GOING! FOR ONCE THE PERSON WHO REQUESTED THIS STORY IS NOT AT FAULT!

"MMmmmmph!"

"Not really the talking type, are you?" Magilou asked her prisoner rhetorically.

"MMMMMPH!"

"Uhh… Magilou?"

"Yes, Laphicet?"

"I don't think he can talk much with that cloth in his mouth."

"Huh, you do bring up a good point."

"Ngh…"

Magilou walked up to the roped up man and took the cloth out of his mouth. As soon as she had removed the thing, her prisoner spat a couple of times, before he glared up at the witch.

"Bah, what the hell, bitch?!" he exclaimed. "What are you two doing at my house?! And for that matter, what the hell are you two wearing?"

Magilou and Laphicet looked down at their clothes, before giving each other a look of confusion. Laphicet turned back to the tied up human afterward.

"What do you mean?" the little Malak asked.

"You're the one wearing the weird clothes," Magilou pointed out.

"What-?!"

"But that hardly matters right now." The self-proclaimed witch walked up to the young man and pushed him down with her boot.

"Hey, what the hell?!"

"I ask the questions," Magilou proclaimed fiercely. "Now then, I suggest you tell us why you brought us here before my little servant of evil starts torturing you."

"That's me!" Bienfu announced proudly, appearing right from behind Magilou. The young man in return looked at the tiny Malak and froze.

"What the fuck are you?" he asked in an almost whisper. Before anyone could answer, he spoke up again. "No, wait a second, I have seen… you… before…"

Magilou raised a curious eyebrow, as she watched her prisoner turn his gaze from Bienfu to Magilou and then to Laphicet, then back to Magilou and Bienfu respectively.

"Oh hell no…" the young man breathed out. "Oh hell, hell, hell, hell-"

He found himself to be interrupted by the sudden sound of an explosion occurring upstairs.

"What was that?!" Laphicet exclaimed, looking around frantically.

"Sounded like it came from upstairs. Huh, I wonder if the others got in some kind of trouble?"

"Wait, what? OTHERS?!"

XXX

Rokurou was having a blast of a time. The exorcist he was fighting was a hell of a lot stronger than the usual bunch he and his group were pitted against. He didn't know how, but somehow the three had managed to blast their way into the foyer. A few of the walls might have been caught up in the fire-blasts, but to the yaksha that only added extra spice to the fight.

On the other side of the room, Sorey and Lailah were slowly beginning to lose their breath. This hellion, although he still looked fairly human, gave them a bigger challenge than any other hellion they had encountered.

"What's with him?" Sorey asked. "He's not slowing down in the slightest."

"I believe he is a yaksha," Lailah answered between breaths. "Yaksha hellions strive in battle. In other words the better their opponent is, the more will they fight back."

"Great," Sorey muttered sarcastically. He raised his sword when he saw the hellion charging at him again. Lailah quickly readied one of her artes, however, none of the combatting parties came to do anything, because all of the sudden a small ice mountain grew in the middle of the room, perfectly separating the two parties.

Everyone turned their heads at the same time and found Magilou, Laphicet and a still tied up young man standing in front of one of the many doors.

"Magilou? Laphicet?"

"Rokurou!" The small Malak quickly ran up to the demon. "Are you hurt?" Before the yaksha could even attempt to give an answer, he could feel the familiar warmth of Laphicet's healing artes doing their work on him.

Sorey and Lailah found themselves stunned speechless when they saw a Seraphim of all people helping the hellion.

"Jeez, you worry too much Laphicet. I was barely getting started. And what was that Magilou?! I was in the middle of a fight!"

"Well, unfortunately, Rokurou, I'm afraid for once we have to keep our weapons sheathed."

Before the witch could fully explain what she meant with that, multiple doors around the room were opened at once, revealing the rest of the uninvited people.

"Rokurou!"

"Sorey!"

"Lailah!"

"Alisha?!"

"Velvet!"

"What's with the ice?"

XXX

After everything had, more or less, calmed down, both parties had separated themselves, into two groups, mainly the people they knew. The exception to that rule were Eizen and his little sister Edna. Both parties watched with interest as the two interacted with each other.

"So… long time no see," Eizen started off lamely.

Edna for her part glared up at her brother. "How are you here?" she asked.

"I dunno," Eizen shrugged. "I guess we got here the same way you and your friends got here?" he guessed.

"But how are you… like this?" she asked.

"Huh? Like what?" the bigger earth Malakhim asked.

"Like… how are you not a dragon?" Edna asked with a perfectly calm voice.

"A dragon?!" he and everyone else of Eizen's companions exclaimed in surprise.

"Why would you believe I turned into a dragon?!" Eizen exclaimed alarmed.

"Because I saw you turn into a dragon," Edna stated as simple as if she was talking about the weather.

"What?!"

"Okay, you mudsuckers, listen up!" The two groups turned their heads to the still tied up young man, who at this point had fallen onto the ground. He also looked just a tad bit pissed off. "Before you fuckers start fighting again and break the rest of my home, can you of you fuckers cut me loose? I might be ready to explain the whole situation to you afterward," he told them.

"Why did you tie him up in the first place?" Velvet asked her witch companion with a raised eyebrow.

"Er… I just felt like it."

"Fuck you!"

"Of course you did…"

Sorey in the meantime was nice enough to cut the ropes that bound the young man, who gave a small "thanks", as he stretched himself.

"Goddamnit, that felt at least a quarter as bad as initiation week," he groaned, letting his arms hanging. "Okay, first things first" he turned towards Sorey's group. "As appealing as it might look, please don't kill any of the demons or their respective associates."

As an answer, Sorey's group looked suspiciously over to Velvet's group, most of who just shrugged off the suspicious glares they were receiving.

"Now then" the young man clapped his hands together "have any of you ever heard of the so-called multiverse-theory?"

Each group looked at each other, looking quite lost.

"Right, should have figured," the young man grumbled. "Okay, the short version is that basically that there exists an infinite amount of alternative worlds. For example, Velvet, in your world you're the first person to be dubbed the Lord of Calamity, while in another world that title might be associated to Artorius. URGH!"

While Sorey's group, minus Edna, stared at the barely clothed woman in shock, the young man found a blade being pressed against his neck.

"And just how do you know all of that?" she asked in a cold tone.

"Easy there, Velvet. He's the only source of information we have right now." Eizen reminded her.

"The first Lord of Calamity?" Sorey whispered to Mikleo.

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," the water-seraph advised. "I get the feeling we're about to learn something significant."

"Arrgh! I study so-called alternate universes!" the young man explained hastily. "I watch events unfold and sometimes even go as far as travel to them. In fact, I planned on travel to your universe, but I fucked up! That's how you guys ended up here!"

Velvet glared down at the young man for a couple of seconds, before sheathing her blade again, allowing the young man to let out a sigh of relief. "Let's suppose I believe you this wild story, that means you should be able to bring us back home, correct?"

"Back home? No problem. Immediately?" the guy scratched the back of his head. "I have to check first. Best case scenario, you die while traveling through the portal," he explained with a wry grin.

"How about you guys get to know each other a little more? You're from the same universe after all, just from timelines. See you in a bit."

And before anyone could stop him, the young man had made a rather hasty mistake.

XXX

In some other universe, Zerodone knew he was nothing more than a poor fanfic writer, who probably skipped a lot of the hard work he went through, as well as the very loud talk the two groups had with each other on the upper floor. He was quite glad he was "a" Zerodone who was not a poor fanfic writer, but one of those lucky sons of bitches who had the special gift to travel through dimensions. And with few he meant the hundreds if not thousands of other people out there who traveled to other worlds, basically doing whatever the hell they felt like doing. Luckily some of them had been nice enough to show him the ropes of things, as such it only took him a couple of hours to find what he was looking for.

Like he said, he could send the groups back to their dimension, even their respective timeline. But he couldn't do it now. It just wouldn't work out. As such, there was one thing he needed to do. He needed to keep them all entertained. Luckily, he just knew what he had to do.

Thirty minutes later he had them all gathered inside a massive living room, complete with couches, tables, and a meat-eating plant. It was a souvenir.

"Okay, at least it looks like you've become acquainted with each other."

"You can say that again," Dezel grunted.

"To think that the first Shepherd would do such a thing…" Sorey stated solemnly, looking at the ground. Alisha wanted to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder but hesitated.

"You think that's heavy? You don't wanna know the shit that's going on in the 40k universe. Fuck you, Slaanesh," he cursed under his breath. "Anyways, I got good news and I got bad news."

"What's the bad news?" Edna asked before anyone else could speak up.

"I can't send you home straight away unless you guys wanna risk getting torn apart limb by limb."

Laphicet shuddered at the mental images he was getting.

"And the supposed good news?" Rose asked, twirling one of her blades in her hands. If Zerodone was fazed by her knife skills, he didn't show it.

"I can get you home. In fact, thanks to the convoluted way on how time flows differently in every alternate universe, you shouldn't be away from your respective homes for longer than a week or so," he explained. "Don't ask me for the details" he turned towards Magilou "I made an oath not to disclose any unnecessary information. And I don't plan breaking that oath for quite some time," he told the witch, who grumbled at the missed opportunity of gathering information about a completely new branch of magic.

"And what are we to do in the meantime?" Eizen asked, flipping his coin.

"Well, since it's my fault you're here, I gotta stock up on my food supplies first and foremost. Luckily, being the little bastard that I am, I have abused my power enough to gather a shit ton of money. And while you wait here for me, I actually got an idea. You see, there is a way to look into a different dimension, without traveling there. 100% safe. Anyone interested?"

XXX

After Zerodone had shown everyone on how to operate the TV and even went as far as to show them how bathrooms work because one has to remember that the visitor's level of technology is not quite as high as ours, Zerodone left the visitors to watching this "alternative universe" he spoke off.

 **The TV-Screen showed clouds parting, giving the camera a good overview of the capital city of the Rolance Empire.**

"That's Pendrago!" Sorey exclaimed, recognizing the city.

"Wow, I didn't know Pendrago looked so beautiful from above," Mikleo commented.

The camera zoomed into the city, coming closer and closer, faster and faster until it abruptly slowed down in front of the palace.

"Wow." Alisha blinked her eyes. "For a moment I felt like I was actually falling from the sky."

A few other occupants of the room nodded.

 **The camera move seemingly on its own accord, floating above the ground and straight up going through the walls of the Palast. With a "whoosh" sound, the camera was suddenly close to the ground. The sounds of heavy footsteps could be heard echoing through the hallway, along with the rattling of a man in armor. Indeed soon enough, the camera had caught up with a pair of feet, upon which said camera moved all the way up until it revealed the face of a grim looking night.**

"Ain't that Sergei?" Rose asked.

"I guess we shouldn't be too surprised seeing him, given that apparently, the magic device is showing us the Palace of Pendrago. I imagine a lot of his duties require him to go there," Lailah stated.

"That's some fine armor," Rokurou commented.

"Aye," Eizen agreed. "Given that he's a captain, it would be surprising to see him wearing something else."

 **Captain Sergei eventually stopped. The camera changed perspective, now showing him standing in front of a pair of big double doors, with two guards standing in front of it.**

"He… doesn't look too happy," Laphicet commented.

"Eh… maybe the ruler got something to complain about. Have yet to meet any noble that doesn't complain about some small thing or other." Rose commented. Alisha skillfully did not say anything.

"Captain Sergei." The two guards saluted. "She is awaiting you. Are you ready?"

"I am not scared of her, guardsman," Sergei replied. "Open the doors. The sooner I get this over with, the better."

"Whoa, didn't see that coming," Rose stated.

"He doesn't appear to have much of an opinion of whoever he's about to meet," meant Alisha, sounding worried.

"Hardly a surprise," Dezel scoffed. "Almost every so-called "noble" nowadays doesn't care about anything else, except their wealth."

"I'm sure not every noble is like that," Sorey replied, particularly looking over to Alisha.

 **The double doors were opened by the guards and Sergei stepped inside. Once again, his boots echoed throughout the room, only this time they were louder, considering the size of the throne room. Nothing specific was shown on the television. The camera was at a specific angle so that it showed Sergei approaching the throne, as well as the huge red carpet and the light shining through various glass stained windows.**

"What a waste of space," Velvet commented. "What is it with rich people and huge houses?"

"Showing off," came Eizen's immediate answer. "Somehow they feel the need to show just how much money they have, be it through jewelry, their homes or even throwing parties."

"I bet you and your friends crashed a bunch of those parties," Magilou said with a grin.

"Heh, maybe?"

 **Finally, the captain stopped right in front of the throne, to which he knelt down. The camera switched positions once again, this time showing the feet of a woman wearing expensive shoes, sticking out of a dress.**

"Hey, wait. I know we never met him, but isn't the ruler of the Rolance Empire a man?" asked a confused Sorey.

"Remember, this is an alternative timeline," Edna reminded the Shepherd. "It could be that in the timeline we're seeing, the ruler died and his wife took over."

 **The camera moved upwards, showing the detailed rose pattern of the black and red dress that the woman was wearing.**

"That would look good on you, Velvet," opined Eleanor.

"I'm not the type for dre-" But the rest of the word got stuck in Velvet's mouth.

 **The camera finally arrived at the face of the woman, revealing her to have fiery orange eyes, pale skin, black hair and a confident smirk on her face, while leaning said face against a gloved hand. The camera changed to behind Sergei, showing the back of him, but also Velvet Crowe, the ruler of Pendrago. It was tilted upwards, giving one the feeling that the ruler was looking down on them.**

Laphicet had the decency to stop the TV, having remembered which button he had to press. It now showed Velvet looking down on Sergei, having a smirk on her face that was more fitting on Magilous' face than on Velvet's. Slowly but surely everyone in the room turned their faces towards the first Lord of Calamity, who in return was staring at her other self on the screen. For several moments no one said anything or even dared to make a sound. That was until a snort went through the room, which quickly exploded into full-blown laughter. To Velvet's surprise, it was Laphicet who was laughing his ass off, falling off the couch in the process. He was soon followed by Magilou, then Bienfu, Rokurou, Eizen and even Eleanor!

"Wh-what's so funny?!" Velvet asked, her face flushing.

"Yeah! Why aren't you guys… I dunno, shocked?" asked a taken aback Rose.

"Oh man, Velvet!" Rokurou exclaimed. "Have you seen your face?"

"That's almost as good as the rumors about you!" Magilou exclaimed. "I didn't know you could make a face like that!"

"She looks like a stereotypical villain out of a children's story!" Eleanor said between fits of laughter.

The joke was lost on Velvet and the Zestiria crew.


	3. Chapter 3

It took a minute for the Berseria crew to calm down.

"Sorry about that," Rokurou apologized to the others. "You really have to know Velvet to get how funny this is."

"Uh huh…" Sorey replied unsurely.

"Still, I wonder what would drive Velvet to become the leader of a country. How did she accomplish this in the first place?" Eleanor wondered.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Magilou nodded towards Laphicet, who pushed a button on the remote and the video went on.

" **Captain Sergei," the Velvet on the TV-Screen greeted the man in full armor, her smile never leaving her face.**

" **My lady." The Captain bowed as was expected of a knight to his ruler. "You called for me?"**

" **That I did." Velvet nodded, the smile leaving her face and her expression turning neutral. "I hope it wasn't an inconvenience for you. I know how much attention your tasks as captain require of you."**

"I don't know what, but something is off about the way Velvet is speaking here," Laphicet commented.

"Sounds perfectly normal to me," Edna replied.

"No, Laphicet is right," Eizen agreed with the young Malak. "There's something off, but I can't put my finger on it."

"Hmm…" Velvet put a thoughtful hand under her chin but didn't comment on it as of yet.

" **It is never an inconvenience, when you call for me, my lady." The captain replied on screen.**

"Is it just me or does Captain Sergei sound kind of hostile?" Mikleo asked his peers.

"He does," Dezel agreed. Though he found the slight static that the so-called TV-Screen emitted slightly distracting, he could easily make out the hatred dripping in the man's voice.

"What is it you wish of me?" the captain asked, curiosity being evident in his voice.

" **I have received a rather disturbing report today. You are aware that our harvest has been, to put it bluntly bad the past couple of years. Our food reserves are holding up, but unless we have a better harvest this year, the people will starve." Velvet told the Captain.**

"Is that true?" Eleanor asked the Zestiria crew. "Was there really a harvest problem in Pendrago?"

The Zestiria crew looked at each other. "I have heard rumors about the situation our neighboring kingdom has been in, but nothing concrete," Alisha said after a minute.

"We don't know anything specific either. But given how much rain there had been caused by a single Hellion…" Lailah trailed off for a moment. "It is not impossible to believe that other Hellions have been responsible for more disasters, yet at the same time, it could have been just bad luck with the weather."

" **I am well aware of that fact." The captain replied. Suddenly the scene changed in rapid fashion. The screen became black and white, showing pictures of destroyed roads, collapsing bridges, forest fires and people dying due to sickness. Finally, the scene changed one last time. The color returned and showed Captain Sergei's grim face. The camera zoomed away from him and turned around until both he and Velvet could be seen from the side.**

" **Does this have anything to do with why you summoned me?" the knight asked.**

" **Indeed." Velvet nodded, standing up from her throne, her dress no longer hiding the red cushions. "The report said that thieves have been raiding our crop storages as of late. I don't need to tell you what would happen if this continues."**

"That would be bad for any country with a shortage of food," Rokurou commented.

"People don't even realize that they're making things worse," said Rose, putting her hands behind her head. "Sure the thieves got a bit more to eat for a day or two, but if the food isn't regulated during a time of shortage, things just go south pretty fast."

Alisha looked over to Rose for a second, before returning her attention to the TV.

 **Once again the TV-Screen turned black and white, indicating it showed an event in the past. This time it showed Sergei sitting on a desk, going over some paperwork. One of his knights then came along and presented a piece of paper to him. After carefully reading it, the Captain looked up at the knight.**

" **Another theft?"**

" **I'm afraid so. We're questioning witnesses as we speak, but so far, we have nothing," the knight reported.**

" **Hmm, this is not good. If "our esteemed ladyship" hears about this" the sarcasm was quite obvious in Sergei's voice "there's no telling what that demon would do to the citizens."**

"Wow, he really doesn't like you, huh Velvet?" Rokurou asked his fellow daemon.

"So, what's new?" Velvet asked with a wave of her hand. "If he knows I'm a daemon, then it should hardly be a surprise."

"Wait," Dezel spoke up. "How does he know you are a Hellion?" the Seraphim asked.

"What do you mean?" the Hellion asked back.

"Mankind has long since lost the ability to perceive daemons," Lailah explained, slightly surprising the Berseria crew.

"Really?" Laphicet asked.

"Well, if that is the case, it means that in this timeline we managed to defeat Innominat," Magilou deduced.

"Aye and without him, only a select few humans can perceive us and daemons," Eizen agreed.

"But from the sound of things, everyone seems to know that Velvet is a daemon," Eleanor went on.

"Well, I suggest we just continue watching. I'm sure our questions will be answered eventually," Magilou suggested, to which the others agreed.

 **The scene shifted back to the present with Sergei and Velvet.**

" **I want you to increase the guards stationed at our storage facilities." The Lord of Calamity ordered. "I also want you to investigate the thefts and find the culprits. I do not wish to the people to believe that the guards are not able to apprehend some simple thieves."**

"It looks like the Captain's fears were completely unfounded," Eizen commented.

"What do you mean?" Laphicet asked.

"It looked like that Captain Sergei feared Velvet would do something to the citizens," the first mate of the Aifread pirates explained.

"Why would she do that? It wouldn't make any sense punishing someone who didn't do anything," the young Malak argued.

"It would fit with the stereotypical villain persona," Bienfu argued. "You know in all those stories where the villain takes over the kingdom at the beginning and then treats the people like they're less than animals."

"I guess everyone would think that would happen if a daemon suddenly takes over," Rokurou thought aloud.

The general on-screen blinked a couple of times, before saluting. "Understood. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

" **Indeed there is," the Lord of Calamity on screen replied. "Our spies report that the tension is rising in the Kingdom of Hyland. Their leaders are now openly considering to go to war with us in order to make up for the poor harvests they experienced as well."**

"Huh, so you guys were having trouble too?" Rokurou asked the princess, who nodded solemnly.

"Sadly yes. Be it harvest, trade… our kingdom has suffered for quite some time for a multitude of reasons," Alisha confirmed. "And it's also true that there had been open talk to go to war. I did my best to prevent it, but…"

"Ah, I see," Rokurou nodded, understanding.

"If it is not too much to ask, how did the war end?" Eleanor inquired.

"A stalemate, basically," Rose replied bluntly. "For a time it looked like the people of Ladylake were going to win, but then their Commander got himself killed." The assassin purposely left out some details of the war, like Sorey's involvement and Heldalf's appearance.

"From the looks of things, it doesn't look like this Velvet wants to go to war," Mikleo said thoughtfully.

"Why would I?" Velvet asked. "If the harvest was really that bad, I can't allow myself to have a war. How would I supply the troops? Not to mention I actually need all those men to work in the fields, rather than fight in a war that I might actually lose."

"Hmm," Magilou's expression became thoughtful. "I guess that is how you would run a country. Efficiency above everything else. Kinda boring, but it fits you in a way."

"If I just let the people die, I won't have much of a kingdom left. That's not efficiency, it's basic logic," Velvet argued back.

"Is it bad that all of the sudden I wish a Hellion would be the leader of my country, rather than the ones who are right now?" Alisha asked with a tired sigh.

"I would think the answer is rather obvious," Dezel grunted.

"Why would you think that anyway, Alisha?" the local Shepherd asked perplexed.

"Because right now she" Alisha gestured at Velvet "has shown more care for the people than most politicians I have to deal with."

"Wow, that bad, huh?" Rokurou let out a small laugh.

" **Shall I prepare the army?" Sergei asked, getting the attention of everyone else back to the screen.**

The people watching tensed up.

 **The Lord of Calamity put her ungloved hand under her chin, thinking. "Prepare yes, but do it discreetly. From what our spies have gathered, Princess Alisha is doing her best to keep the idiots who want to go to war in check. In fact, she has gone as far as to hold the first Sacred Blade festival in years."**

"I take it you're not an optimistic person," Sorey commented at Velvet, who just waved off with her hand.

"I am a daemon. What do you expect?"

"Um… what is the Sacred Blade Festival?" Laphicet asked innocently.

"It's a festival that is being held in honor of the Lady of the Lake," explained Alisha and then giggled. "As it turns out this was none other than Lailah."

Everyone looked over to the fire-elemental Seraphim, who too giggled. "The sacred blade festival was something we thought off, in order to determine who would become the next Shepherd. We stuck a sword in the stone and cast artes on the stone, so it would only release the sword to someone who could see Seraphim and has a pure heart."

"Looks like someone didn't want to have another Artorius," Magilou quietly whispered to herself.

"That's one way to do it I guess…" Eleanor thought to herself.

 **Sergei on screen cleared his throat before speaking up. "I see. So, do you think Princess Alisha will be able to keep the government officials in check."**

" **I am not sure." Velvet shook her head. "Which is why I want you to prepare our forces, just in case. Humans are naturally greedy and mistrusting creatures. If they see her as a threat to their power, they'll probably try to remove her, if you catch my drift."**

Rose glanced over to Alisha, still playing with the dagger in her hand. She thought back to the day she and her guild had received the job to assassinate the princess. At first, it looked like a simple run out of the mill job. At first. She didn't notice Sorey glancing over at her.

" **I understand. I will give the necessary instructions immediately."**

" **Good. You're dismissed."**

 **Sergei gave one final salute, before turning around and heading out of the throne room. He was about to exit the room when Velvet called him one last time.**

" **And Captain? As much as I enjoy a midnight snack, please refrain from sending any more assassins to my chambers. I prefer to have an uninterrupted good night's rest."**

"Say what?!" the Zestiria crew exclaimed. Eizen, Rokurou, and Magilou smirked at Velvet, while Laphicet looked at Velvet uncomfortably. Eleanor just looked disgusted.

"I guess that's one way to get rid of an assassin," Eizen commented with a small chuckle.

"By eating them?" Edna asked, having a hard time keeping her voice in check.

"I am a therion," Velvet explained. "I literally survive by eating the malevolence that comes from people and daemons alike."

"Couldn't you have just locked them away?" Eleanor asked with an angry tone.

"Y-yeah, I agree with her," Sorey nodded.

"They would have been executed anyway," Rokurou threw in his two cents. "I'd say it solves two problems at once. Getting rid of the assassin and keeping Velvet well fed."

"Don't talk about me like I'm some kind of pet that needs to be fed," the Lord of Calamity told her companion.

"Though it looks like this Velvet at least has developed a sense of humor," Magilou commented with a grin.

"A wicked sense of humor, if you ask me," Mikleo growled, not hiding his disgust.

"Er, that's nothing," Rokurou waved off. "You should have been there when Velvet almost fed Magilou to the alligators."


	4. Chapter 4

**The scene on TV changed after Sergei left the throne room. After a brief black screen, the throne room was once again shown. Velvet was sitting on her throne again. A man was in front of her, holding a large scroll in his hands. He was trembling in the place he was standing, while Velvet, in all honesty, looked pretty bored.**

" **Let me get this straight. The church asks for money in order to renovate their church and nearby facilities? What exactly do they mean by facilities?" Velvet asked her advisor.**

"Looks like even the Lord of Calamity has to put up with the day to day dealings of being a ruler," Alisha commented.

"Doesn't look like she's enjoying it very much," Rose chimed in.

"Trust me, there's nothing enjoyable about listening to petitions all day," the princess replied.

 **The man almost dropped the scroll he held in his hands, sweating bullets and shaking like a leaf in the wind.**

" **I-I-I am not sure, my lady." the man stuttered, his eyes frantically looking over the notes on his scroll. "I-I-It d-d-doesn't say a-a-anything else. B-b-but if you so de-de-de-desire, I can g-g-g-go to the cardinal and-"**

" **Forget it." Velvet interrupted her advisor, waving with her bandaged hand. The man with the scroll let out an unmanly shriek and dropped his manuscript, while at the same time shielding his face with his now bare hands.**

"Wow, what a scardy cat," Magilou deadpanned.

"You'd be too if you came face to face with a hellion," Alisha argued.

"Ehm, excuse me?" Magilou pointed with a finger over to Rokurou and then to Velvet.

" **I suspect the new cardinal simply wants the money to build himself a bigger house or do who knows what he wants to do with the money."**

"How can you assume something like this?" Eleanor asked Velvet with an accusing glare. The daemon in return just waved the exorcist off with her hand.

"How should I know?"

 **On screen, the advisor slowly picked up his scroll and looked up towards his lady. There was still fear written on his face, though for some reason he wasn't trembling anymore.**

" **Last time I checked the church, it was just fine. There's no need for any kind of renovation, big or small. If they need a new kitchen, they can simply use the money they get from the** people. From what I have seen, people have the rather peculiar habit of donating money to the church, even though they need it for themselves," the Velvet on TV explained herself.

"I guess your people hope that the church can banish you to the underworld, if they help out the church in some way," Magilou spoke towards Velvet in the room.

"But wait, aren't churches already funded by taxes?" Laphicet asked in the round. "Or is it different in a thousand years?"

"No, it's not," Mikleo replied, crossing his arms. "However this reminds me of one incident back in Ladylake. A priest of the local church helped a woman in need. She in return wanted to give him a lot of money as a thank you gesture. The priest refused at first, but the woman was quite insistent to the point where she got angry."

"Huh? Go figure…" Rokurou mumbled.

"People's devotion can drive them to do things that are not always logical," Eizen said out loud. "We have seen that more than once ourselves."

"True," the samurai daemon nodded, "but still, why did that woman insist on paying the priest for his services, even though he offered them for free?"

"The church has a lot of influence over the people and the countries in general," Alisha explained. "I don't know how it was a millennium ago, but nowadays a lot of people working for the church abuse their power in order to enrich themselves. Sadly I doubt this Velvet's" Alisha gestured towards the television "suspicions are unfounded."

Eleanor looked particularly uncomfortable at that revelation.

" **P-peculiar indeed." the advisor agreed, quickly picking up the scroll. "I-I'll inform the cardinal of your decision."**

" **Thanks. Is there anything else?" Velvet asked, leaning her head against her not-gloved fist.**

" **U-um….y-yes. Just a minor thing, I assure you." The advisor said, after checking his scroll for a moment.**

" **All right." The Lord of Calamity sat upright once again, inwardly relieved that it was almost over. "What is it?"**

" **It's about the repairs of the roads in the merchant distinct. It...ah...it seems like there has been a problem with the transportation of the necessary materials."**

"Is this going to keep on forever?" Edna asked. "This whole political stuff is just boring," the younger earth Seraphim complained.

"I'm sure we'll get to the more interesting parts soon enough," Lailah answered. "After all, you can't start a good story without the proper setup."

" **A problem?" The Lord of Calamity echoed, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of problem are we talking about exactly? It shouldn't be too hard to transport a couple of rocks from the quarry to here."**

" **Ah, eh, yes, yes. Under normal circumstances, it is as you say." the advisor agreed with a nervous smile.**

" **Under normal circumstances?" Velvet parroted once again, leaning a little forward. She didn't realize that she had an intimidating effect on her advisor until Crendor hid his face behind the scroll he was holding.**

" **I-I-It's the weather, my lady! As you know, the recent rains are the cause of multiple landslides, including at our own quarries." The man with the scroll spoke hastily. "A m-m-m-messenger arrived today, my lady. There was another landslide at the nearest quarry."**

"The weather, huh? I wonder if that nearly endless rain caused as much trouble for the people back at home," Sorey commented.

"You don't know?" Eizen asked.

"We were busy dealing with hellions," Edna replied. "One of them was the cause of the bad weather. We couldn't exactly stop and help everyone with every single little problem they had."

"That didn't stop our shepherd from trying," Dezel almost scoffed, yet a small smile appeared on his face.

" **Another one?" Velvet asked, sounding slightly alarmed.**

" **Y-yes," Crendor confirmed. "The lives of t-t-two men were lost, due to the slide. They had been working on removing the earth from the previous slide. Additionally, three carts were damaged and one completely destroyed. We also lost two horses." The bearded advisor listed off.**

 **Velvet frowned, looking to the side. "Those poor souls." She mumbled to herself, the man in front of her unable to hear her. Out loud she said: "So, I guess we can't expect any delivery from our southern quarry for some time. Do we have an estimate?"**

" **Uh...um…" Once again, the man checked his scroll. "Well, the messenger told me that it would take at least a month to clear the road. That doesn't include any additional landslides that may happen. Additionally, in order to receive the acquired amount of rock in order to repair the damaged roads, they'd need to replace the lost cart and repair the others."**

"I didn't know so much could go wrong when delivering simple materials," Laphicet stated ever so slightly amazed.

"You'd be surprised." Eizen crossed his arms. "Keeping the Van Eltia in good condition is no simple feat as well."

"Wait a minute, the Van Eltia?!" Sorey exclaimed, surprising the others a little bit. "As in Captain Aifread's ship? The most famous and yet infamous pirate in history?!"

"Famous, yet infamous?" Eizen chuckled. "I'll be sure to tell the captain and the rest of the crew, once we get back."

Laphicet dutifully put the video on hold, while Eizen found himself bombarded with questions by Sorey. Velvet moved a little closer to Mikleo and asked.

"Is he always like this?" she asked the water Seraphim.

"The two of us found history always interesting. Sorey just tends to go overboard with his curiosity from time to time. More often than not he ends up trapped in some ruin or other and I have to drag him back out."

After Rose managed to pry the Shepherd off the Malak, the video resumed.

" **Great, a month." Velvet sighed. "What about our northern quarry? Can we expect a delivery in the next two weeks?"**

" **I-I-I'm afraid not," the yet to be named advisor replied, shivering and sweating. "From our latest report, they'll be busy clearing the road there for weeks to come. Not to mention it is even further away, than the southern one."**

 **The daemon woman on screen looked visibly frustrated on the screen.**

" **Do we have any alternatives?"**

" **W-well…" the advisor wracked his brain for a solution, "the o-o-o-only thing I can think of r-r-right now is to buy the necessary materials from H-H-H-Hyland. B-b-b-but of course, given recent events-"**

" **They might not be willing to sell us anything. Or at the best case scenario, sell us anything for triple the regular price." Velvet finished for the man in front of her. "All right." she sighed, eventually. "For now, send some men to our quarries to help the workers clear the road. It's all we can do for now. Also, remind the Raven Guild that they better deliver on time."**

" **I-it will be done, my lady." Crendor bowed deeply. "I-is there anything else you wish of me?"**

" **No, you're dismissed."**

 **The bearded advisor almost smiled brightly upon hearing those words. After bowing a second time, the advisor turned around and left the throne room at a rather quick pace. As soon as the doors behind him closed, Velvet loosely slumped down in her throne, sighing deeply.**

" **What a day." Velvet spoke to herself. "Thieves, churches, guilds, wild animal attacks, the nobility...I should just devour them all and be done with it."**

"Isn't that what you always do?" Magilou asked with a sly grin. Velvet didn't bother answering that question.

"I must say I am positively surprised. No offense, Velvet, but I was expecting you to be a bit more aggressive," Lailah said in a positive tone. Velvet resisted the urge to scoff at the Seraphim.

"Oh, she can be aggressive, trust me," Eizen instead spoke up.

"She usually saves up all of her aggression and unleashes it at full force at the next best opportunity," Rokurou added.

"Like that one time where she leveled an entire hill because Madame Eleanor accidentally cut a good portion of her hair," Bienfu laughed at the memory.

"You leveled an entire hill over your hair?" Dezel asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, us women are really protective of our hair," Rose argued. "By the way, you can level an entire hill? Really?"

"Daemon," was Velvet's simple answer.

"How did Eleanor cut Velvet's hair by accident anyway?" Sorey asked, looking at the two woman.

"Velvet got pushed backward by an enemy. Almost at the same time, I was swinging down my weapon, which ended up cutting her hair," Eleanor explained.

"That was really close. She almost cut Velvet's back," Laphicet told the others.

"The funny thing is, since Velvet is a daemon, the cut on the back would have done less damage, than the haircut," Rokurou said with a smile. "She was almost as mad as that one time in the capital, where Magilou made Velvet-"

Rokurou silenced himself, when Velvet unleashed her daemon arm and glared over at the daemon swordsman. "On second thought, maybe we should continue watching. Who knows, something interesting might happen?"

Magilou barely suppressed her fit of giggles, knowing Velvet would burn down the blonde's hair. The daemon had yet to forgive the witch for that little prank.

 **On screen, the camera followed Velvet as she walked through her castle. Whenever she came across a servant or a guard on patrol, they would go out of their way and bow their heads to their leader. From time to time the camera would change, showing the faces of those people directly. In case of the guards, the camera showed their faces underneath their helmets. All of the expressions that were shown showed genuine fear in the faces of the various servants and guards. Some would have widened eyes, others would be sweating bullets and one guard was breathing very heavily.**

"Stereotypical villain. How boring," Magilou commented, putting her hands behind her head.

"This is more concerning, than boring," Mikleo told who witch, who just shrugged him off.

"Concerning in what way?" Velvet asked from her position. "I think the reason for their fear is pretty obvious. They know I am a daemon."

"Yes, but people have long lost the ability to perceive hellions. How do they know you're one? And why are you the leader of an entire country in the first place?"

"How about we watch and find out?" Edna offered. "I for one am actually interested why Symonne is there."

"Say what?!" The rest of the Zestiria crew shouted.


	5. Chapter 5

" **You look troubled." A young, feminine voice brought Velvet out of her thoughts. Looking over to a white bench, Velvet found a young girl, no older than twelve sitting on said bench. She had short, dark hair and wore a lilac, black outfit, which was very revealing for someone of her age. Then again, one could never be too sure about the age of a seraph just from simple appearance alone. Symonne was no exception to that rule.**

"Yup, that's Symonne," Edna stated as a matter of fact.

Dezel growled, restraining himself from making any kind of comment.

"Who's Symonne?" Eleanor asked Alisha who turned out to be just as lost as the entire Berseria crew.

"She's a Seraphim who for some reason has decided to help the Lord of calamity," Mikleo explained.

"A Seraphim aiding a Hellion?!" Alisha asked aghast.

"Not completely unheard of," Eizen motioned over Laphicet and himself, before moving on to Velvet and Rokurou.

"But… why?" the princess asked.

"It's a long story," was all she received for an answer.

" **Just the usual." Velvet replied non-chantilly, making her over to the dark seraphim. Careful with her dress, the Lord of Calamity placed herself next to the seraphim, who in return looked at her lord with a playful expression.**

" **Oh really? Did you devour anyone while I was not looking?" the Seraphim asked.**

"She speaks very casual to you… er… the other you," Mikleo quickly clarified to Velvet, who just shrugged.

"I don't see what's so peculiar about this…"

"Nothing. I just meant to point out that she must have known you for some time, if she can speak with you that way."

"I don't care how people talk to me."

" **I didn't feel particularly hungry." The Lord of Calamity waved off with her gloved hand.**

" **Too bad. There are still so many people left in this city that produce so much malevolence." Symonne looked into the cloudy sky, watching as the dark particles flew upwards as if they were trying to corrupt the very heavens themselves. "So much malevolence. It is a wonder in of itself, that there still exist uncorrupted seraphim like me."**

"That's a lot of malevolence, even for a city of this size," Eizen noted.

"I take it things are different in your time?" Alisha asked.

"Very much so," Eleanor confirmed. "I can't remember ever seeing so much malevolence at once."

" **Maybe." Velvet conceded. "But there are still places where seraphim can live in peace without the fear of corruption. And personally? I think humanity would sooner turn completely into hellions before they corrupt every last seraph in existence. Which doesn't make the situation any better of course." Velvet added.**

"You're not an optimist, huh?" Rose asked the therion.

"I thought we already established that."

" **Mhm." Symonne nodded absentmindedly. "Did you hear? Our dear Princess Alisha is holding a Sacred Blade Festival."**

" **I did." Velvet nodded.**

 **Symonne blinked in surprise, upon her calm demeanor. "Aren't you worried about the possibility of a new shepherd taking up the mantle and trying to undo everything you've worked for?"**

"Speaking of, what have you been working on, I wonder?" Magilou asked her daemon friend.

"How should I know? This is another version of "me" and not me."

"You lost me," Rokurou deadpanned.

" **What's there to worry about?" Velvet countered. "If there will be a shepherd, he or she will be inexperienced at best. I managed to kill the very first shepherd when he was at the peak of his power. Killing some gifted no-name should be easy if it even comes to this."**

"So in this world we managed to beat Artorius," Bienfu concluded.

"It… makes sense. I mean otherwise, she wouldn't be there," Sorey pointed at the Velvet inside this very room.

"Although, I would prefer it if you would cooperate with the new Shepherd, rather than make things…. Difficult," Eleanor opined.

" **You certainly are confident," Symonne remarked and then shrugged. "Then again, I suppose you're right. That seraph...I forgot her name...she has lost a considerable amount of power over the years, simply because she loses her hosts every couple of years. Plus the new shepherd would be hard pressed to find any willing Seraphim to become sub-lords in order to "save the world". Many seraphim are already well on their way in becoming a dragon."**

"I didn't know she's been keeping taps on Lailah," Dezel spoke thoughtfully.

"Well, you know the old saying: keep your friends close and your enemies closer," Rose proclaimed. Velvet found herself nodding in agreement. She couldn't help but think of how Artorius kept her close.

"Um… what's a sub-lord?" Laphicet asked.

"Sub-lords are Seraphim like myself who help the Shepherd on his or her journey," Mikleo explained. "In return, we're given the power to purify hellions."

"Fancy way of saying getting rid of daemons," Rokurou noted.

 **Velvet looked to the side. Whenever she heard the term "dragon", she needed to think of Eizen. She still had not been able to locate him, which could mean anything in his case. Logic dictated that he had already become a dragon, but there were a couple of other scenarios she could think of. She sincerely hoped he had simply gone to the far continent and was exploring the other side of the world for its history and treasures.**

" **It's all the more reason why we need to act, while we still have time. Symonne." Velvet looked directly at the seraphim's face. "I want you to go to Hyland and watch the festival. By the off chance a shepherd emerges, don't kill him just yet. His purification powers might give us the time we need to save this world."**

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on." Magilou held both hands in the air. "Is Velvet actually, genuinely caring about something else than her revenge?" the witch asked. "And it is the world no less?!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" Sorey agreed. "Isn't the Lord of Calamity supposed to destroy the world?"

The entire Zestiria crew appeared to be at a loss for words.

"Well, we aren't exactly planning on destroying the world," Eizen spoke up. "But we aren't saving it either. The truth is, the reason we came together is because each of us has his or her own reason to face Artorius."

"Mine is easy. He's the strongest swordsman in the world, ergo I have to beat him." Rokurou grinned. "That and I owe Velvet for busting me out of prison and helping me find my sword." He touched the handle of the blade on his back.

"Reasons aside, I am pleasantly surprised that your other self considers joining forces with the new Shepherd," Eleanor spoke to Velvet.

"Probably just to make it easier to achieve whatever goal my other self is after."

 **Velvet looked down on her dress. "If he is willing to join our cause that is." The Velvet on screen went on, causing everyone to look on the screen again.**

" **Well, I've been meaning to get out of this castle for a while anyways," Symonne announced, jumping off the bench and stretching her short limbs, exposing her belly button in the process. Velvet swore, if the Seraph wouldn't be invisible to humans, she would scold the girl right here and there, no matter the actual age.**

"She seems a lot more lively than I remember her being," Sorey commented.

"Yeah, I didn't get the impression she was someone who would talk so casually."

" **Will you be okay on your own?" Velvet asked, concern clearly coming from the tone of her voice.**

 **Symonne looked back at her Lord and smiled. "Don't worry. I am not going to turn into a dragon any time soon."**

 **Velvet smiled back. "All right." With her ungloved hand, she punched a nearby tree, causing it to shake. A single apple fell off the tree and landed in her hand. She held the fruit out to Symonne, who eagerly accepted the fruit.**

" **Good luck."**

The TV-Screen turned black for a moment, before white letters appeared on it. 

"Press "Play" to watch the next episode," it said.

"So… should we continue watching or…?" Sorey trailed off.

"I think this… "episode" I suppose, has given us more than enough food for thought," Lailah opined. "Plus, we didn't really have the time to properly get to know each other. I suggest we take a break and maybe have a little chat." The Seraphim suggested.

"An excellent idea," Eleanor agreed. "I'm sure all of us have questions for the other party in some form on another."

"I do, but I think I will stretch my legs for the moment," Velvet said and stood up.

"Hey, don't just go away like that!" Eleanor shouted as she watched the daemon leave the room. Eizen put a hand on Eleanor's shoulder, stopping her from going after the black haired girl.

"Leave her be. I think she needs some time alone to digest what we all just saw," he told her.

"She's not the only one," Rose admitted looking over at Dezel.

"Then how about we split up and all take a little walk?" Eizen suggested. "I think there are some of us who wish to have a little private talk first and foremost."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that he wished to talk with his sister Edna, who was giving him a look.

"Well, I guess we're all a little tense after what we have seen," Lailah conceded.

XXX

In the end, all of them decided to go to seperate rooms, some grouping up with others. Laphicet had decided to quickly run after Velvet and luckily for the little Malakhim, he managed to catch up to her in one of the many hallways.

"Is something the matter, Phi?" Velvet asked, calling the blonde by his nickname.

"No," he shook his head. "I was just wondering why you wanted to leave so quickly?"

The therion let out a sigh. "To collect my thoughts, mostly," she told him.

"Mostly?" he inquired, tilting his head.

"I am also wondering why I of all people would decide that taking over a country was a good idea." The daemon almost scoffed.

"It is unlike you," Laphicet conceded. "But 1000 years have passed in that world," he pointed out. "I have read in a fictional story about how a man travels ten years into the future and doesn't recognize his best friend anymore."

"I didn't know you read fictional books too," Velvet said in slight surprise. "But you make a good point. If I really live up to a thousand years, I wouldn't know how it would change me."

"Yeah, me neither," Laphicet spoke, frowning. "But I am glad that you're overall still the same." He smiled up to Velvet, who couldn't help but chuckle.

"I am not exactly the embodiment of good or anything remotely similar," she pointed out.

Laphicet wasn't sure how he could reply to that statement. For a while, he and Velvet just wandered around the mansion, looking into the various rooms from time to time. To their surprise they found out that most of the rooms were relatively empty. It was almost like the mansion had just finished construction and the furniture had yet to be moved in.

Eventually though the two found themselves inside a room that reminded them heavily of the insides of an inn. A few tables were set-up with a TV hanging from the ceiling. There was even a bar with multiple bottles filled with alcoholic drinks seemingly just standing around at random locations. Rokurou of all people just happened to stand behind the counter with multiple used glasses in front of him. He also just happened to be holding a bottle filled with something yellow.

"Hey there Velvet, Laphicet," he greeted his companions. "Have a look at this! The guy has so much stuff here, I could fill an entire bathtub with this." The samurai daemon laughed.

"Are you sure you should just go through his thinks like this?" Laphicet asked, acting as the voice of consciousness once again.

"Eh… given that it is practically his fault we're here, I don't see a problem," the swordsman said with a smile. "Plus, I'm pretty sure if he can afford himself a home like this one" he motioned through the room "then he won't miss a few drinks here and there."

"Why do you have so many glasses?" Velvet asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, I just wanted to know how each of the drinks here tastes. And I didn't want the different tastes to mix up, because some of the stuff here is strong."

"Is that so…"

"Come on, Laphicet," Rokurou beckoned. "I found an entire cabinet that was labeled non-alcoholic drinks. I tried some of those drinks and they actually taste really good, even if they're a little weird."

"What exactly do you mean with "weird"?" Velvet asked and got her answer, when her companion produced a bottle with a red label, some kind of black liquid inside of it and it was sparkling in some way.

"And you're absolutely sure this is safe?" the therion asked.

"Do you really think someone would buy something poisonous to drink?" Rokurou asked in return.

Seeing his point, Velvet helped Laphicet onto one of the chairs standing in front of the counter and took a seat himself right next to the Malakh. Rokurou in the meantime produced a fresh glass and filled it with the black stuff. Velvet and Laphicet did feel uneasy, when the liquid let out some kind of "whooshing" noise as it was filled with that stuff.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Velvet asked again. "What are those bubbles doing in there?"

Rokurou shrugged. "I dunno. But it gives the drink a unique taste. A lot of the stuff down here actually has those bubbles," he said, looking down on the open cabinet.

Laphicet took the glass into his hand and observed the liquid inside with a questioning look. "Well, if a human can drink this, shouldn't I be able to drink it too?" he asked.

"I am still not sure-" But that's as far as Velvet went, before Laphicet took a sip. At first glance everything seemed alright. He swallowed and put the glass on the counter.

"Wow. The bubbles are kind of-" And that's as far as Laphicet came, before he let out a huge belch.


	6. Chapter 6

"You know for a house this big, it is surprisingly empty and bland. No servants who fulfill your every wish, no portraits to give the hallways some ecstatic and most of the rooms look exactly the same." Magilou, the self-proclaimed witch, shook her head in disappointment. By pure chance, she was currently accompanied by the not-evil Shepherd Sorey and his best friend Mikleo. The trio was exploring the house or better put the mansion that belonged to their partially unwilling host. The only problem with that was, there wasn't really a lot to explore. It was like Magilou stated, most of the rooms had maybe a little furniture in them, but mostly had the exact same white walls. There had only been one exception so far, namely a broom closet.

"I admit, I was expecting more too," Mikleo said with his arms crossed. They came across a staircase and somehow silently decided to go to a lower level. "But something I noticed is that there is not a lot of dust on... well, anywhere, really. I wonder how many people you need to hire to keep a place as big as this so dust clean."

"Doesn't really interest me," Magilou pouted, putting her arms behind her head. "I want to know if this place has a library! Have you ever been to a place like this that didn't have a huge collection of books?" the blonde asked the others.

"Haha, to be fair, of the top of my head, I can only think of one or two places that come remotely close to the size of this one," Sorey said with a grin. "But I get where you're coming from. I mean, we're in a completely different world, which is crazy in of itself. Just imagine the history we could learn about this place!"

"Personally, I am more interested if the magic in this world is any different from our own, but I guess history comes a close second," the blonde witch conceded.

"The only remaining problem is that we have no idea where the library in this place is or if it even exists. And honestly, from what little I have seen of the one who brought us here, he didn't appear to be the reading type of guy," the water Malak added his two cents.

"There has got to be something interesting in this place," Sorey argued back. "Maybe we're just looking at it wrong. I mean, we started from the basement and just went up from there. Maybe he has filled out all of the rooms in the first few floors and just doesn't know what to do with the rest."

"Now here's a random thought," Mikleo commented, not looking convinced at all.

"Well, it is possible, don't you think?" the male human said, although his face said that he realized he might have spoken before thinking. "Still, maybe we should go through this a little bit more systematically? We have been going through rooms mostly at random," he pointed out.

"You do have a point with that," Mikleo conceded with a nod.

XXX

In the meantime, in another part of the house, Rose and Dezel had more luck in finding something interesting to look at, well at least in Rose's case. Although whether what they were looking at was interesting or not, depended on the person in question. From the looks of things what the two stumbled into, appeared to be their host's personal room. It wasn't anything like what Rose had been expecting.

Since their host had the power to travel between worlds of all things, Rose had expected there to be some ancient, dusty books being stacked on top of each other on top of a shelf, which in of itself was already filled with more old books. Maybe some stone tabloids were lying around here and there. An old desk would sit in a corner with a half burned out candle on it, along with papers written to the brim with all kinds of spells and curses. On hindsight however, from just seeing a small part of the building, Rose should have known better.

There was still a shelf filled with books alright. Only these "books" were pretty thin and had colorful pictures of all kinds of characters on them. From normal humans, to demons, to straight up humans with animal traits, it was like someone let their imagination run wild. When Rose opened one of those "books", she didn't find very many letters in them. Rather she found black and white pictures in them. Those pictures depicted human or human-like characters doing all kinds of stuff. Sometimes talking, sometimes, fighting and sometimes screaming from the top of their lungs. Accompanied by those pictures were those bubbles, in which words were written in. It didn't take long for the thief to realize that those bubbles contained the words that the characters spoke.

"Wow, now that's something else. If we had something like this back home, even I could get into reading."

Dezel just grunted in response, not really caring either way.

The rest of the room wasn't as interesting to Rose. There was a bed that hadn't been made, some clothes were scattered around a spinning chair, and there was a desk on which various things were scattered on it. To sum it all up, the room was a mess, kind of like it would be expected from a teenage boy, not a young adult.

There was also a TV standing on the desk, though it looked a little different and was way smaller than the one in the other room. The only thing left worth mentioning about the room was that for some reason its owner decided to paint the walls over with acid green color.

"Sheesh, let's get out of here. Someone hasn't opened the window in quite a while." Rose waved her hand in front of her nose, as she spoke.

"Hmph, you're lucky your senses are not as advanced as mine," Dezel grumbled, following the woman.

XXX

In yet another part of the house, Eleanor found herself in a deep conversation with Alisha. The two had hit it off fairly easily, due to them already having similar personalities, not to mention similar fighting styles. It's actually how their entire conversation had started, by talking about how they learned to use their respective weapons and moved on to other things, such as the training to become an exorcist.

"And as a sort of ritual, all graduates, including myself, ate sale'tomah," Eleanor moaned, shivering at the memory.

"Sale'tomah?" Alisha repeated. "I don't belief I have ever heard of it."

"I envy you so much right now. Sale'tomah is a flower that is used to cure a sickness called the "corsair's scourge." However, the taste..." Eleanor wrapped her arms around her own body. "I don't believe there's anything worse in the world, than the taste of that flower."

"Really?" the warrior princess blinked. "Is it really that bad?"

"Trust me. I have had to swallow it twice. The second time I actually caught the disease, along with almost everyone else on the Van Eltia. It was even worse than the first time."

"I... take your word for it," Alisha spoke in sympathy. "But, excuse my curiosity, I don't see someone like you teaming up with hellions and pirates."

Eleanor let out a small chuckle. "It's quite the story, actually. I ended up with them by pure accident, which is another story of its own. We... how should I put this?" Eleanor gained a thoughtful expression for a moment. "Well, we at first helped each other out for convenience sake. But during that time, I received a secret message from the Abbey, telling me to infiltrate their group and gather information about them."

"I... see. Well, I would love to hear the details, but I doubt we have the time to fully talk about it now."

Eleanor nodded. "Yes, however I will say that over time, I learned that not all daemons are necessary evil. There are always circumstances one has to consider before making judgment. Admittedly, even knowing this, it's hard to actually consider my own advice when I come face to face with a daemon that is not trying to kill me at first glance."

"I imagine," Alisha grimaced. "I only fought a handful of hellions myself and I found them to be pretty terrifying on their own. I don't think I would be able to hold a conversation with one without lashing out within the first thirty seconds."

"Well, it does help that Velvet and Rokurou look mostly human and act it too, aside from Velvet losing her temper here and there and Rokurou getting a little too excited during a battle." Eleanor almost pouted.

"That actually sounds surprisingly human," the princess commented.

"If only it would be the case. Apparently Velvet's and Rokurou's emotions or at least certain emotions have become stronger when they became daemons. For Velvet, she's easily angered and generally always in a grumpy mood. Rokurou is mostly in good spirits, but when a fight breaks out, it's best to watch out for his temper. He'll apologize after he has cut off your arm."

"I'll... make a note of that..." Alisha spoke slowly. "Did... did an accident actually occur during a fight?"

"Surprisingly and luckily, no. Despite getting overexcited every now and then, he does possess a strong discipline. The closest we ever came to an accident was actually when Magilou used a strong water arte and Laphicet just so happened to dodge an opponent's attack at the same time. The poor boy. He only got scraped luckily, but he was soaked to the bone afterwards."

"Oh dear..." Alisha smiled wryly. "I take it he got a cold afterwards?"

"No," Eleanor shook her head. "Luckily Malakhim don't get sick at all."

"Really? There's so much I don't know about Seraphim, I didn't even realize it." Alisha giggled for a second, before frowning. "But wait, why are you calling beings like Lailah and Laphicet Malakhim, when we call them Seraphim?"

"Huh, I haven't thought about it. Maybe the language simply changed over the course of one millennium?"

XXX

Eizen and Edna were not having much of a chat, really. No really, instead of talking, for the past twenty minutes all Edna had been doing was damaging her brother's head repeatedly in various ways, using either her umbrella, an arte or the next best heavy object she could find. And after she was done, she said: "Okay, I forgive you."

For context sake, Eizen was out like a light at this point.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite wanting to explore their host's home some more and maybe get to know each other better, both groups were just too curious about what was going to happen next in this alternate world of a sorts. They still barely understood what all of this actually meant, but until their host returned from his shopping trip, they had no choice but to wait for his return. And what better way was there than to watch TV?

As such, after everyone was back together, seats were taken and the watching device turned on.

 **The first scene that played out on the big screen showed the camera zooming in from above the clouds. Soon, a landscape came into view, consisting of a forest in the far north, a big city in the south, a village to the west and large, open fields practically everywhere else. Of note was the city itself, which was surrounded by one huge lake. The city was practically an island in the middle of the lake and the only thing connecting it to the main land was a single bridge.**

"Hey, that's Ladylake!" Sorey exclaimed, recognizing the first human settlement he had ever visited easily.

"Hmm, I wonder if we are going to see the two of us now," Mikleo spoke thoughtfully, referring to himself and Sorey.

"Wow, the place looks even better from above," Rose commented, causing Alisha to puff her chest in pride at the compliment to her hometown.

"It looks beautiful," Laphicet acknowledged.

 **The camera zoomed in closer at a fast pace, until it slowed down, when it reached the shore of the lake. On the southern part of aforementioned lake, Symonne could be seen wandering around the coast, lazily swinging her baton around. She had a bored expression on her face, yet she was humming a little tune to herself.**

"Wait, I don't remember Symonne being at Ladylake," Sorey spoke thoughtfully.

"This is an alternate world, remember?" Dezel spoke to the Seraph.

"Oh yeah, I forgot."

"Hmph. Besides, I would have known if she had been there," the wind Seraph spoke with venom in his voice. The others noticed this, but decided to not pry into his personal matters just yet.

 **As Symonne walked at the side of the lake, she of course came across the raging river and the destroyed bridge. People could be seen on the other side of the bridge with building material and tools at the ready. However, none of them were doing any kind of work, quite the contrary actually. Some men were simply talking to each other, others played with dice and again others were even drinking some beer.**

"I remember that. The workers couldn't repair the bridge, because of the raging currents," Mikleo said with crossed arms. "And the currents were caused by a Seraphim that had been taken over by malevolence."

"So the Malakhim became a dragon?" Eizen asked worried. The others of his crew tensed up, aside from Velvet and Magilou, but relaxed when they saw Mikleo shake his head.

"No, he hadn't fallen that far. In fact, on our journey we met quite a few Seraphim that came corrupted by malevolence. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if they all became dragons."

"Yeah, just imagine. Having to fight a dragon every other day," Rokurou stated with a serious nod.

"And why do you sound so excited at the prospect?" Eleanor asked with a deadpan expression.

"It's Rokurou. What did you expect?" Magilou summed it up the best.

 **Since Ladylake proper appeared to be Symonne's destination, she had to cross the water somehow. And she already knew how. Using her artes she conjured a little ice bridge. Not over the river of course, that would be suicidal. Rather she created the bridge over the lake itself. She didn't make it too big and made sure to melt the ice away as soon as she was on the other side, in order to avoid a commotion. Luckily for her, no one had looked towards her during the time it took to cross the small part of the lake.**

"You know, we could have done that a couple of times," Velvet noted with a thoughtful expression.

"On the other hand, we never really needed an ice bridge for anything," Eleanor pointed out. "Plus creating one that is thick enough for all of us to cross would take away considerable amounts of energy over time. Energy we could possibly need in a battle."

"Besides, with all of this global cooling going on, it's only a matter of time until everything becomes a frozen wasteland and we have to migrate to the south," Magilou felt the need to comment.

 **Being so close to the workers, Symonne was now capable of overhearing their conversations.**

" **Must have been a lot of rain in the mountains. Can't explain all of that water otherwise," one of them said, speaking to the foreman.**

" **Let's just hope it will flow down quickly. If we don't get that medicine transported quickly, there won't be anyone left in that village."**

"What is he talking about?" Eleanor asked the Zestiria crew.

"The village he talks about was plagued by a disease," Alisha explained. "However, this bridge practically connects Ladylake to the rest of the world. And due to a lack of foresight on our behalf, there were no ships that could be used to transport the wagons or the medicine on the other side. This bridge is the only thing connecting Ladylake to the rest of the world."

"Sounds like a design flaw to me," Rokurou stated.

"Sadly, we noticed this too late. Many died due to the plague."

 **Symonne didn't stay too long to listen to the workers. She had almost reached her destination and planned on going there without any interruptions. A pipe dream as it turned out to be. The camera suddenly looked down at the Seraphim from a hill. On said hill, a pack of wolves were watching the young looking Seraphim with bloodshot eyes. It became immediately clear that those weren't normal animals. These creatures had been corrupted by malevolence. They were bigger than your average wolf, had longer claws and not to mention the glowing eyes.**

"Hmm, I wonder if I can get one of those as a pet."

Several eyes wandered towards the resident witch.

"Didn't you say you're a cat person?" Laphicet asked.

The blonde woman waved him off. "Oh, I wasn't thinking about "that" kind of pet. I just think something like this would be good for Magilou's Menagerie. People love exotic animals."

"I wouldn't call a daemon an exotic animal," Eizen grunted.

"Oh please, have you taken a look at Velvet?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

 **The wolves charged down the hill with every intend on killing the "helpless" girl and make her their dinner. However, Symonne wasn't fazed at all. The opposite appeared to be the case. Almost lazily she raised her wand and swung it around. Three fireballs, one for each wolf, escaped from her weapon of choice and flew straight at the attackers. The animals yelped in pain and found themselves flung across the air until they painfully landed on the ground. To add insult to injury, the fur of the three assailants was now on fire. Yelping in surprise and panic, the wolves did the only logical thing and ran straight into the lake. Symonne snorted in half-amusement, before continuing on her merry way.**

Laphicet couldn't help but chuckle at the comedic display of the daemons.

"Oh hey, that's us!" Sorey pointed at the screen.

 **As Symonne came closer to the entrance of Ladylake, the camera moved away from her and floated towards the bridge connected to the city. It showed that all traffic on the bridge had practically stopped, as the Spearowfeathers were in the middle of fixing a cart that had broken down.**

"Those hellions sure did a number on our carts," Rose stated with a frown. "Thinking back, I should have known something was wrong with those wolves. Their jaws easily bit through solid wood and even after stabbing them at vital points, they wouldn't go down at all."

"It's what makes daemons so dangerous to normal humans," Eizen explained. "At least back in our time we have weapons enchanted with the magic of Malakhim. But even with that, it's still risky to engage into a fight with a daemon."

"Doesn't mean it won't stop certain blockheads from doing so. I won't mention names." Edna refused to look at anyone. Multiple parties still felt like they had been spoken to.

 **The camera stayed at the site of the accident for a couple of seconds, showing Rose giving instructions to her fellow merchants to check the wares, see if anything had been damaged and to hurry up the repairs. The camera then floated away and moved towards an old road, where two familiar faces were walking down and talking to each other. Symonne could be seen walking up that path, eyeing both young men with interest.**

Sorey and Mikleo visibly tensed up. Both of them knew what Symonne was capable of doing and both expected her to put them through hell. However, the exact opposite of what the two longtime friends expected happened.

 **Symonne approached the two individuals halfway on their descent to the city, giving them a friendly wave. "Why, hello there." she greeted the newcomers, when they were only a couple of feet away, getting their attention. Both Human and Seraph stopped in whatever they had been discussing and looked in front of them. Before any of them could say anything, Symonne continued on.**

 **"It is rare these days to find a person capable of interacting with my kind." she nodded towards the blue-clad seraph.**

"What is she doing talking to us?" Mikleo wondered.

"Probably trying to trick you into doing something you will regret," Dezel answered in a disgusted tone. "She is working for the Lord of Calamity after all."

"Hey, Velvet isn't that kind of person!" Laphicet immediately defended the local daemon, causing Velvet to look to him.

"He's right. Velvet is much more straightforward," Magilou agreed with a devious smile. "Although she isn't above some dirty trickery every now and then."

Velvet just grunted, not denying the accusation. She always tried to get every advantage she could get, be it in battle or somewhere else.

"You mean like the time she used you as a meat shield, when we were fighting that frog daemon?" Rokurou asked with a smirk.

"We promised to never talk about this again!"

 **"Wait, you're Seraph?" The human asked in slight disbelief, but also excitement. His Seraph friend crossed his arms, looking a little surprised.**

 **"Indeed, I am. My name is Symonne." she introduced herself with a small curtsy. "And who might you two gentlemen be?"**

 **"O-oh. This is Mikleo." The human pointed towards his seraph friend. "And my name is Sorey. It's nice to meet you."**

"Well, she is staying polite so far," Alisha said carefully.

"Doesn't need to mean anything." Rose toyed with her knife. "Tricksters know how to play it cool and strike when you least expect it."

 **"It is a pleasure." Mikleo nodded politely. "Honestly, I didn't expect to run into a fellow Seraph so soon. The two of us just left Elysium and are on our way to the human city."**

 **"Ah, so you're from Elysium." Symonne filed that little tidbit of information away for later while keeping her polite gesture. "Personally, I have never been there, although I heard it is the last malevolence free place on this continent."**

 **This seemed to disturb both Mikleo and Sorey. "The last malevolence free place on the continent?" Sorey echoed. "Are you sure you aren't exaggerating?"**

"Sadly, it isn't a joke." Lailah shook her head slowly.

"Is it really that much of a problem?" Laphicet asked.

"Is it? You can't come even close to a town without feeling like a thousand ants are crawling all over your body," Dezel grunted. "Being with Sorey has made things easier, but that's only for us sub-lords. Every other Seraph is constantly at risk of turning into a daemon."

"But doesn't that include her as well?" Eleanor gestured at Symonne on the screen.

"Who knows what's going on in her head? Trust me, I've met her. She may all prim and proper now, but in her head," Dezel tapped against his skull. "She is messed up."

Eleanor didn't say anything further, but frowned none the less. ("Something doesn't add up here…")

 **"I take it you do not come out of Elysium very often." Symonne deduced and turned around. She gestured with her baton towards the city. "Do you see the black particles coming out of the buildings?" she asked.**

 **Both Mikleo and Sorey came a little closer and squinted their eyes. It took them a couple of seconds, but they too eventually noticed the malevolence.**

 **"Oh no." Sorey breathed out.**

 **"This isn't good," Mikleo commented.**

 **"Sadly, this has become the norm," Symonne said offhandedly. "You have probably noticed it already, the wild animals that have been turned into hellions."**

Velvet's unbandage hand balled into her fist. She was all too familiar with the scene in front of her. Granted there was nowhere near as much malevolence as there had been during the accursed scarlet night, but that didn't mean that rather uncomfortable memories were awoken inside of her.

"That's a lot of malevolence," Rokurou noted. "The town must be infested with daemons."

"Regular people only see them as humans," Edna explained. "And the daemons living inside the city have learned to adapt. Sometimes the power gets to their head, but most of the time they manage to fit in."

"So, like me and Velvet do. Of course, it helps that we still look human."

 **"Yes. We even got attacked by a couple of them." Mikleo said, looking back at Symonne with a hardened gaze. "Is it truly that bad?"**

 **"Bad? Definitely. The worst it can be? Well, luckily we're still not there and there are those that try to improve the situation. Take Princess Alisha for example-"**

 **"Wait, what?!" Symonne found herself interrupted by the two boys, as they stared at her in disbelief. "Alisha-" Sorey began.**

 **"-is a princess?" Mikleo finished off.**

"That sure threw us in for a loop," the water-seraph nodded at the reaction of his other self.

"You can say that again. My mind was blown when I learned the first other human I met was a princess." Sorey threw Alisha a grin.

The princess in return giggled. "I'm sorry, Sorey. But I couldn't give away my full identity to someone I had just met."

"Makes sense," Eizen acknowledged. "Rulers have all kinds of enemies they have to be wary about. You only need to look at the prince."

"Or any other politician." Rokurou shook his head. "I don't understand. How come someone who talks all day can have more enemies than your average mercenary?"

"There is a reason they say words hit harder than anything else," Alisha stated.

 **Huh? You two know her personally?" Symonne tilted her head in curiosity. "I didn't know she could see Seraphim."**

 **"Well, actually, she can't." Mikleo cleared up. "We just happen to stumble upon her by sheer coincidence and helped her out a little. She got lost inside some ruins in Elysium and was possibly attacked by a hellion. Sorey" he pointed towards his human friend "helped her out a little until she was ready to leave. We thought that was that until out of nowhere a fox hellion showed up. He revealed to us that he had the intent to kill her."**

"A daemon assassin? Now where have I heard that before?" Bienfu "wondered" out loud.

"Can we not talk about this?" Eleanor asked through gritted teeth.

"Aw, don't tell me you're still hurting about our little disagreement we had back then?" Magilou spoke sweetly.

"I wouldn't call it little…" Laphicet sweatdropped.

"I wouldn't call a situation where people try to kill each other a "disagreement" either," Velvet chimed in.

"Excuse me, what?" Rose asked. "What are you all talking about?"

Laphicet stopped the video, feeling like this explanation would take a little while.

"Oh, where do I begin? It all started when we were hired by a notorious, underground guild that specialized in everything your dark heart could possibly desire…"


End file.
